You Know What They Say
by CharlotteBlackwood
Summary: Maisie Waller knew he was bad news. Sirius Black was a bad boy. He flew a motorbike. He had tattoos. He ran away from home. He bedded just about any female. But he made her feel, and she hadn't done that in a long time. Forget the warnings. Forget the words of her friends. Maisie wanted Sirius Black, and everything else was irrelevant. And it was a damn slippery slope from there...


**A/N: Hello! This is a Sirius/OC, a shortish story, thirty chapters all told. If you liked **_**Gabriella McPeak**_**, I think you'll like this one!**

** -C**

"To actually getting the scores we needed to keep the jobs we've got!" Mia said happily, holding up her drink in toast.

"I'll drink to that," Maisie giggled, and the two girls clinked their tankards together before taking long drinks of butterbeer. It wasn't the most celebratory drink they could have had, but Mia hadn't wanted to go to a Muggle place, neither of them was feeling like having wine, and Maisie couldn't stand firewhiskey.

"Granted," Maisie said slowly, setting down her tankard, "it doesn't take a lot of magical skill to be a sports editor at _The Daily Prophet_."

Mia smirked and said, "Be fair to yourself, dear. You'll use Charms frequently. Cuffe told you so himself."

"Only O.W.L. level, though."

The girls shrugged and sat in silence between themselves. The pub was noisy enough, though, and the clinking and clunking of glasses and bottles and tankards against each other and wood, the sound of silverware on plates, the smell of food and drink, and the overall atmosphere of good cheer felt infectious.

Mia had been anxious to receive her scores, Maisie knew. If she hadn't gotten good enough results, she wouldn't have been able to pursue the Healing research she wanted to do for St. Mungo's. But she'd managed to get a high enough score in Potions by the skin of her teeth, and everything else she needed was excellent.

"D'you think we should get food too, or are you not hungry?" Maisie asked her friend, pulling her wild, curly blonde hair over a shoulder.

"Wouldn't that sort of defeat the pretense of going out for drinks?" Maisie shrugged and Mia continued, "Right, maybe when we leave here we can go to a proper restaurant."

The girls agreed, but instead they found themselves in Muggle London, walking into a dance club.

"Why did we come here?" Maisie groaned, letting Mia lead her out to the bar.

It was a club that was actually frequented by young wizards and witches, so they weren't entirely out of their element. It was run by a Squib who had thought that marketing to young wizards and witches would be good for business, and he had been absolutely right. And Muggles never noticed anything, especially not when they were drunk.

Mia ordered the drinks and the Squib serving them winked at them. They, like many of their classmates, were regulars at Dragon's Lair, and when magical people who were regulars made certain orders, the people who served them always knew what it was they were actually ordering. This was a concoction that was three parts butterbeer, one part firewhiskey, which was the only way Maisie could stomach firewhiskey.

"Drinks on me tonight," Mia said happily.

How could Maisie argue with that?

They were about three in each when they started dancing. Muggle blokes particularly tried to hit on Mia. Maisie didn't have that confidence that Mia did, that something that drew blokes to her like she was a bloody magnet. The whole parade of attempted suitors was fun to watch, though, and Maisie even got a dance out of a guy who thought to use her to get to Mia.

"Not a chance, mate," she said with a laugh before tapping his nose and walking back to the bar, where Mia was getting them more drinks. "That bloke wanted you."

"So did the other dozen," Mia snorted, handing a glass to Maisie. "Are you still a virgin?"

Maisie nearly choked on her drink. Mia wasn't a whore, exactly, but she'd had a few boyfriends. She knew what sex was, and had given a long, detailed talk to their whole group of friends about how to properly prepare yourself and go about your first time. Maisie knew she was the only one left who hadn't had sex, but she hadn't expected her friend to just come out and say it in a public place like that, and so bluntly.

"Yes," Maisie hissed. "Not that it's really any of your business."

Mia just laughed, getting them more drinks as they sat down at the bar. If Mia sat, it meant her feet hurt too much to dance. Maisie always had a hard time wrapping her brain around this, since Mia was a bit of a machine when it came to dancing, but she respected her friend's feet, and they sank into the comfortably squishy barstools.

"We need to remedy this."

"It's not a sickness, Mia," Maisie hissed, eyes darting around nervously, hoping nobody was able to hear her friend. "You can't fix something that isn't broken."

Mia shrugged.

Despite her not being exactly loose, Mia did have this strange idea that a woman wasn't actually a woman until she had sex. Maisie rolled her eyes, burying her face in her drink. A moment later, however, Mia began to cough and splutter into her own drink and Maisie resurfaced, raising a questioning eyebrow at her recovering friend.

"You'll never guess who just walked in," Mia muttered, glancing over Maisie's shoulder. "No, don't turn around! He's got such good hearing. He'll know we're talking about him."

Good hearing could only be one of four people, and she could really only think of two who would be in a place like this alone: it was either James Potter or Sirius Black. Following a method they'd used in school to talk about the Marauders without saying a word, Maisie tilted her head to the left, and then to the right. Mia tapped Maisie's left shoulder.

Of course. Sirius Black. That probably should have been obvious, since James was no longer single. Rumor had it that somehow he and Lily Evans were still dating. Maisie raised her eyebrows and sipped her drink, casually turning and letting her eyes scan the dance floor, headed toward the direction of where Sirius would have entered.

Sure enough, half the females in the place were staring at him, causing a bit of a stir as he made his way over to the bar.

"Well what have we here," he said with a smirk. "Waller and Baudry. How are you ladies this evening? Celebrating scores or drowning sorrows?"

"Celebrating, Black," Mia said with a smirk. "Which for you?"

He snorted at the insult. Sirius Black was, of course, one of the top of their year from beginning to end, although he never opened a book for any of his courses. He ordered a firewhiskey and downed it in one. Maisie fought to not let her eyebrows shoot up at this easy manner he had with drinking. Sirius did everything in an easy manner, so easy that it almost made Maisie uncomfortable.

"So," he said smoothly, smirking at them, "you both look lovely tonight."

"You're not that dumb, Black," Mia said loftily, downing the rest of her drink and getting to her feet. "Besides, I owe a dance to the blond at that booth. I'll be back, Maisie."

Maisie nodded, watching her friend swagger over to the blond in question. Mia and Sirius didn't exactly dislike each other, but the definitely rubbed each other the wrong way, and Maisie suspected that they both did it on purpose.

"You really do look quite fabulous tonight," Sirius said in a low, husky voice that Maisie had heard him use before. He hadn't been in the knickers of every girl she'd known at school, but quite a lot of them, and there were plenty more who had tried. Maisie had to admit to herself that he did have some measure of taste. She'd never seen him with anyone truly awful.

"Thank you," Maisie said, self-consciously smoothing the skirt of her little black dress over her thighs. This was, apparently, not the right thing to do, because as she did it she found Sirius unabashedly looking her up and down, starting with her hemline. He then licked his lips and continued to speak.

"Let me get you a drink," he said, smirking a little. "In celebration, of course."

"What's your price?" she teased. She'd seen Mia use this sort of banter on boys she wanted to go away.

"A dance," he said, and she saw a flash of something in his gray eyes, although it could have been the light effects.

Maisie agreed to the drink and the dance, and she barely remembered having the drink by the time he'd pulled her onto the dance floor. She'd danced with a few men already that night, mostly ones who were interested in Mia, or looking for someone who looked easy, but Sirius had no interest in Mia and he knew there was nothing easy about Maisie. She'd never been on a date, and not for lack of being asked.

But Sirius was the best dance she'd had in ages. It was closer than usual, somehow hotter than usual, and there was a purpose in all of his motions that made her feel incredibly special.

She lost track of how long they danced, his hands at her waist, pulling her close enough to smell his spicy, delicious cologne and the firewhiskey on his breath mingling into an aphrodisiac. Maisie had always thought Sirius was attractive – sinfully so – but she'd never been interested in him very intently. He was too much trouble…. Too hard to get, too hard to keep, and Maisie had her pride. Now, though, she was beginning to wonder why she'd never at least thrown her hat in the ring to see what would happen.

After Maisie grew too tired to stand up without Sirius's support, he led her back to the bar, helping her onto a stool and standing beside her. He ordered more drinks, and Mia slid onto a stool beside Maisie, her eyes full of tight suspicion.

"Where were you two all that time, then?" Mia demanded.

"Dancing, Baudry, dancing," Sirius drawled, raising his glass at Mia slightly before throwing it back. "Waller here is quite a dancer."

Maisie didn't think that was true. She'd never been especially good at anything physical. But she could feel a blush rising up on her cheeks and she quickly buried her face in her drink. How many had she had?

"In fact," he said, smirking a little and leaning in closer to Maisie, "I'd rather like to do this again. We should have drinks sometime, you and me."

She could feel her heart racing and she looked at him with wide eyes. Part of her was hoping that he was just saying it because it was the thing to say in whatever sort of situation they were in, but then she realized that he was watching her expectantly, waiting for a response.

"Erm, sure," she muttered. The way his face looked so proud in that moment was both worrying and exciting. He was proud that she said yes? Or he was proud that he'd still never had anyone tell him no? It was hard to think through which was more likely when the music was so loud and her head was so fuzzy, but she thought that she ought to set a day for the thing. But could she set a day before she had her work schedule?

"Another round on me, then, ladies," Sirius said, and he motioned for more drinks for the three of them. Maisie wasn't sure she wanted another drink, but she thought it would be rude to say no. She could always sip it slowly, which might keep him from buying her another one after it. They had only just gotten their drinks – Sirius had downed his in record time – when Mia gave an annoyed groan, downing her own very quickly.

Maisie turned to find James Potter walking up to them very quickly.

"Sirius," James said, his voice urgent. "You're needed for…."

He blinked at the girls.

"Oh," he said, forcing pleasantness into his voice. "Baudry. Waller. Nice to see you."

Mia snorted and leaned forward.

"Evans let you out of her sight, then? I would have thought that once she finally let you touch her you two would be eternally attached at the hip."

Maisie tried to think of something to lessen the blow of what her friend had just said, but James seemed to take it well, grinning a little.

"Don't worry, Baudry, she lets me do my own thing on occasion. But we're still peas in a pod. Anyway, sorry to interrupt, ladies, but I need to steal Sirius."

"Don't you always?" Mia said. She was smirking in a way that suggested all sorts of unsavory things. Maisie licked her lips, still trying to think of a way to step in. There had been rumors, mostly put up by boys whose girlfriends had dumped them in hopes that they would have a chance with Sirius and Slytherins who disliked the Marauders more generally, that Sirius and James were…not too picky about who they had sex with. They did spend an awful lot of time together, but more to the point, and as Maisie had pointed out several times to Mia, she and Mia spent lots of time together as well, but they'd never even kissed except once on a dare when they were twelve. And Maisie hardly thought that counted.

Before anything clever could be thought of to remedy the awkwardness of their current situation, however, James just laughed and said, "I'll be a gentleman and pretend I didn't hear that. Sirius, you've got a thing."

"A thing?" Mia asked, raising her eyebrows. Maisie wasn't sure how much her friend had had to drink, but it seemed like far too much the more Mia was allowed to speak. "Tell me, what sort of orgy is that code for?"

To Maisie's relief, James just laughed, wrapping his hand around Sirius's arm.

"Charming as this conversation is," Sirius said, grinning at Mia with a wink, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave you both now. I'll owl you, Waller."

"What for?" James asked rudely, dragging his friend away from the girls.

"We're getting drinks."

"Not within the next two weeks you're not," Maisie heard James say in a reminding tone, before their conversation was swallowed by the bodies of the crowd they disappeared into.

"Well, that was lovely," Mia snorted sarcastically.

"You didn't have to be so harsh at them," Maisie said softly to her friend. "It's not like they were doing anything wrong. It was actually nice to see them."

Mia snorted.

"You've obviously had too much to drink," she told Maisie. "Merlin, I know I have. My head's going to be very upset with me come morning. C'mon. We need to be getting home. Want to stop at mine for some coffee before you go back to your flat?"

Maisie nodded, and she followed her friend to the alleyway around the side of the building, took her hand, and they Disapparated.

About three moments later, they were strolling casually into Mia's flat.

"I don't think Sirius is going to write you," Mia said, and Maisie could feel something in her chest deflating.

"Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Why do you taunt them and call them by their surnames to their faces, but speak about them like they're anyone when they aren't around?"

Mia shrugged, kicking off her shoes. It obviously didn't matter to her, because she brushed the whole thing off, asking, "Two creams and a sugar?"

"That's Zoe," Maisie called at her friend's back, which was headed for the kitchen. "I'm one cream, two sugars."

Maisie followed her friend into the kitchen, wondering if Sirius actually would write to her. She supposed that if he didn't there was nothing really lost. She'd never especially fancied the boy to begin with. At least she would be spared the trouble of falling for him and watching him leave her for whoever was shiny and new, like so many other girls had gone through in school. Maisie had never before thought him worth the trouble, and so if he didn't write she simply wouldn't have to guard herself during drinks. She would spend her nights as she always did, reading or with friends.

They sat down and began to sip their coffee and Maisie thought about the feel of Sirius's hands on her waist. She'd not had so much fun in a long time. It had been nice, for a little while, to celebrate properly.

"D'you have work in the morning?" Mia asked, stretching.

"Not really."

Mia nodded. She had work, but if Maisie remembered correctly Mia didn't have to go in until the afternoon. She would have time to recover from the hangover they were both sure to have. Perhaps this was why Maisie's mind kept wandering to Sirius Black's smile.

Maisie stayed only as long as she had coffee in her cup, and then she gave Mia a warm embrace, told her to sleep well, and then took the Floo to her own flat, kicking off her shoes and peeling off her jacket.

"Sirius Black," she muttered, pulling off her dress as she walked into her bedroom. "Sirius bloody Black. Why did it have to be him of all people?"

Maisie liked to think that Mia was wrong, but she thought her friend was probably right, as usual. People said a lot of things about Sirius Black. Maisie had heard it all, and she knew that getting tangled up with a boy – man now, she supposed – like that would be a bad idea, if only for her professional concentration. She was only just starting her career. She didn't need distractions like that boy had in his wake a mile wide.

But perhaps he wouldn't write, and then she wouldn't have to think about it after all. Even as she turned off the light beside her bed, Maisie was wondering whether she wanted him to write, or if her sensible side would win out by morning.


End file.
